Yesterday, Blake and Kayleigh came over to see their Pop for the 1st time after surgery and of course, they both arrived with baskets full of goodies, snacks and things to keep him busy while he recovers.
Kayleigh, who is 10 going on 18, immediately went into caretaker mode. She was helping me with laundry and dishes, chatting it up with her Pop and encouraging him. She has such a sweet heart.
And then there’s Blake.
Blake came in and needed to do a complete inspection of Pop. He checked out the new incision, made sure Pop could talk, made sure he could see, and then actually walked him into the living room just to confirm for himself that yes, Pop could still walk. Apparently the doctors’ assessment wasn’t quite enough.
Once he was satisfied that Pop was doing okay, he moved on to his next mission.
A year and a half ago, Kayleigh gave me these two minature plastic animals that stay on my nightstand every single night. The little pink one represents her and the green frog represents Blake. They are silly little things to anyone else, but they are special to me because she gave them to me.
Well, while we were all visiting, apparently Blake was quietly putting a whole scheme into motion. Suddenly he announced that my two little animals were MISSING.
According to Blake, somehow they had gotten outside, ended up in the dirt, the wind had blown them into the pool, AND, just so we understood the seriousness of the situation, he informed us that they were toxic and therefore it was VERY important that he get into the pool immediately to find them.
(Mind you, we had already told him he could not go swimming.)
Next thing I know, here comes Blake walking out in his bathing suit announcing, “I need to go find those things because Mimi!!!! They are TOXIC!!”
This child had developed an entire environmental emergency just to get himself into that pool.
And somehow, by the end of it, he had positioned himself as the HERO who was willing to risk it all to recover Mimi’s precious animals.
You cannot make this stuff up. And quite frankly, we needed the laugh.
As for Tom, he is doing really well at home. He is sleeping great, eating his favorite foods and getting some much-needed rest. We are waiting to get our appointment with Johns Hopkins and to begin the next part of this journey and his treatment.
We know there is a long road ahead of us, but right now we are grateful to be HOME, grateful for these moments with our grandchildren, and grateful for every ordinary little thing that suddenly doesn’t feel ordinary at all.
And once again, thank you. Truly. The generosity, the prayers, the messages, the acts of service, the incredibly gracious meals and the love that continues to surround our family have been overwhelming. We feel it. We see it. And we are so very grateful cause we need our village!
And trust me, I’m keeping a much closer eye on my precious duck and frog because they’re “toxic” little rascals.
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